Zátopek, David Ondricek’s biopic about multi-Olympic champion runner Emil Zátopek, become a box office champ in the Czech Republic when it released late last August and is also repping the country …
Ondricek and his lead actors joined for Deadline’s Contenders Film: International awards-season event to discuss the genesis of the project and its resonance at home.
The director explained that he had heard stories of Zátopek when he was a child and appreciated his saying, “If you can’t keep going, go faster.” But, “I ultimately forgot about him” until a composer friend said suggested they make a biopic. “I was shocked nobody had done a film about him, he was completely forgotten and he was one of the best sportsmen at that time,” Ondricek said.
Zátopek won three gold medals at the 1952 Summer Olympics and is considered among the best runners in history. However, after rising in the ranks of the Community Party and the army, he was expelled and put to work in Prague’s sanitation department while also being sent away to work for several years. In 1989, he was awarded the Order of the White Lion by then-President Vaclav Havel and officially rehabilitated.
Said Ondricek, “It’s true that for a story you need a man and some obstacles and Zátopek for the first moment you can see he doesn’t have any obstacles because he won almost everything in his life on the field. But in his personal life, he’s a man of many contradictions and we found a lot of obstacles inside his personal life and especially inside his political experience.
Neuzil, an avowed non-fan of sports that require stamina, nevertheless trained for four years to play Zátopek. He told Deadline he was in the same situation as Issova, not really knowing much about the champion or his life. Upon researching the role, Neuzil said he “realized that I had to change the attitude. I’m not supposed to portray a legend or an idol, it’s impossible. I just realized I’m supposed to, and I want to, portray a human being.”pic is currently the No.
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